Hundreds of AZ Entrepreneurs Turn Out For Techiepalooza at ASU SkySong

If last night was any indication, Arizona’s tech scene is about to bubble over with young entrepreneurs, new startups and the watchful eyes of big investors.

As we mentioned earlier this week, Techiepalooza is a networking event that brings the Phoenix entrepreneurial and tech community together. The event ran from 4pm-11pm last night, and upon arriving, I was immediately taken aback by the hundreds of attendees crammed into ASU SkySong’s modestly-sized accommodations.

All photo credits: Hamid Shojaee

The folks throwing Techiepalooza were planning for the 200 or so people who registered days in advance through either Facebook or the ASU Venture Capitalist event page, but the day of the event they got an additional 200+ RSVPs from eager entrepreneurs who then filled the SkySong building and quickly devoured the free snacks.

All the excitement made it difficult to hear the presenters at times, but fostered enough networking and Twitter buzz to make up for it (personal opinion).

Within the crowd there were lots of familiar faces from Extreme Pitch, but also many other local startup companies, ASU business and engineering students, corporate professionals interested in entrepreneurship, and yes, even a sprinkling of venture capitalists and angel investors.

Perhaps most exciting (from the AZTechBeat perspective) though, was the national tech media support. I got to chat with DC-based Tech Cocktail Founder and CEO Frank Gruber, who has had Phoenix on his radar for awhile now. Gruber’s interest in and enthusiasm for Phoenix’s burgeoning tech scene is indicative of a bigger picture “double take,” where major tech companies are starting to look to Phoenix as an additional or alternative base of operations to Silicon Valley or NYC.

So all-in-all, Techiepalooza left us with some great new contacts and an premonition of great things to come for Phoenix’s tech scene. Can’t wait for next year!

Did you attend Techiepalooza? What did you think? What would you like to see next year? We’d love to view your photos and videos as well, so feel free to share those links in the comments.

The following are some highlights from the Techiepalooza agenda, which you can view in full on this mobile site.

I think Gordon and ASU Ventures pulled off, what became overnight, one of the largest tech gatherings for startups in Phoenix that I’ve personally attended. Because of that, there were some flaws, the biggest being not being able to hear much due to being in one large co-meeting space, rather than break out rooms. I’m sure those adjustments will be made for the next gathering. To that end, my hat is off to everyone that made this possible and all of the eager entrepreneurs, startups and companies attending. If this is any indication of what’s happening in Phoenix “tech” – we’re in for a fun growth period.

I agree, and I believe that Techiepalooza has the potential to become a major recurring event here in the Valley. I spoke to Brent Sebold, ASU Venture Catalyst manager, after the event and suggested they add some deeper technology tracks to provide more value to the tech folks.

Alex Delacruz

It was a great local event we need more like this. Really looking forward to next year. Maybe a bigger venue next time?

Mark Von Der Linn

This was a great event all around. The best one for start-up networking that I’ve been to.

Gordon Mcconnell

Thanks the feedback folks – we actually had an event at SkySong with 700 people two months ago, we can use the large conference rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors for the next workshops when we do Techiepalooza 2, which we hope to do in November. A big shoutout again to all our partners, and the other players in the Ecosystem like CO-HOOTS, Gangplank and Launchspot for their support

There have been many well-attended tech events over the past few years. Did anything notable happen at this one?

It was shiny and new, yay, but why are we cheerleading that?

Hamid Shojaee

Because sometimes you need a little cheerleading to know that you’re doing something good for the tech community. If nobody encourages this sort of thing, it wouldn’t happen. This article was very well written covering the event itself and Adriane’s view on it. If you have a different view, we’d invite you to write for us (as you have before). 🙂

Requiring an RSVP might help to size the place better. Also, definitely need separate rooms for the talks.The event really has some potential. Probably can’t expect execution to be perfect on the first go round.

One thing that did bother me slightly was seeing the Chow Locally guy get robbed on the iPad. Enjoyed his talk, and he wins the raffle, but doesn’t get prize. Was strange hearing chants of so many people not wanting him to get it in hopes they’d get another shot.